"Waymo robotaxis are so safe that, according to the company's data, its driverless vehicles are involved in 91 percent fewer crashes compared to human-operated vehicles. And yet the the company is bracing for the first time when a Waymo does kill somebody - a moment its CEO says society will accept, in exchange for access to its relatively safer driverless cars."
""We really worry as a company about those days," said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana on Monday during TechCrunch's Disrupt summit, as reported by SFGate. "You know, we don't say 'whether.' We say 'when.' And we plan for them." "I think that society will," she said in answer to a question on whether the public is prepared for a Waymo to cause a death. "I think the challenge for us is making sure that society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to.""
"For example, Waymo's rival Tesla has notched at least three crashes involving its robotaxi service, not to mention lawsuits the company had to settle this year after Tesla's Autopilot was accused of being at fault in two fatal incidents. General Motors' robotaxi competitor Cruise recently restarted operations after a pause following a 2023 incident when a Cruise robotaxi dragged a woman down a San Francisco street for 20 feet; that woman settled for millions after she sued the company."
Waymo's driverless taxis register 91 percent fewer crashes than human-operated vehicles by the company's data. The company publicly expects a future fatality and is actively preparing for that moment. Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana described the inevitability as a matter of 'when' and emphasized the need for a high public safety bar holding companies accountable. Autonomous vehicle deployment remains new and regulatory frameworks are unsettled. The industry record includes multiple incidents and legal settlements involving competitors like Tesla and Cruise, underscoring public safety and liability concerns as robotaxis scale up.
Read at Futurism
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